Skytree raises €400.000 investment capital with InvestInFuture

Investment Ready alumnus and ESA spin-out Skytree raised €400.000 of new capital with venture investor InvestInFuture. Skytree, formerly known as Giaura, will use this investment for further development of their air purification technology, which can capture and store CO2 from the air on living room level. This CO2 can be re-used directly in domestic applications, for instance to grow plants or to carbonate drinks.

The Direct Air Capture-technology that Skytree uses, was developed by the European Space Agency for the scrubbing of CO2 in spacecraft. In 2016 this technology will be implemented on the International Space Station. The goal of Skytree is to make this technology applicable on a small-scale level.

In this area Skytree has made big steps in the past year and an important milestone was reached in the form of a cooperation agreement with Eheim, a worldwide manufacturer of aquaria and related equipment. With the Direct Air Capture-technology of Skytree, CO2 is captured out of the air, stored and released in the required doses into aquarium water to nourish aquatic plants. This results in a much cheaper and safer solution than CO2 cylinders, which is currently the most widely used method.

Max Beaumont, founder of Skytree, says: “The investment from InvestInFuture will be used to accelerate our growth. This will be achieved by investing in our technology development eg. man-power, lab facilities & equipment. We will also use the funds to expand our business reach through increased brand presence online, at conferences and public events. We have noticed by participating in Investment Ready that people are open to what we are doing and what our concrete, measurable impact is.”

Edgard Creemers of InvestInFuture says about the financing of Skytree: “InvestInFuture is delighted with the investment in Skytree. We strongly believe that Skytree contributes to a better environment through reduced demand for CO2 cylinders, but also close to home through the ability to improve air quality. InvestInFuture looks forward to a close cooperation with Max, Alex, Bardia and the team to make Skytree a huge success.”

Marieke Pluk, program coordinator at Investment Ready, is convinced of the potential of Skytree. “During our last program we saw that they were tenacious and that it is their life’s purpose almost, that’s how involved they are. We are happy that they now have received investment so they can fully focus on expanding their product into something that can maybe be found in every household in the future.”